


sleepless

by captainstarspangled



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crying, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares, Protective Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 22:42:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30079461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainstarspangled/pseuds/captainstarspangled
Summary: tony is bad at sleeping. that's what he tells people.steve finds out why.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Kudos: 54





	sleepless

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy :)
> 
> I've been wondering if I should do a prompt series because I miss writing about them...
> 
> what do u think?

steve had officially been with tony for a few weeks now. he loved to cuddle at night, to fall asleep with tony in his arms. 

what the super soldier didn't know, was that his boyfriend woke himself up after thirty minutes of sleep, stayed awake working for a while and went to sleep for another thirty minutes. 

since tony's nightmares had started, he'd figured out that during those 30 minutes, he didn't dream, and so he'd fallen into this exhausting routine just before steve and him had started to sleep in the same bed. 

from jarvis, tony knew that steve woke up at around two in the morning every night and lay awake for about an hour. steve had mentioned it to the man too, but he'd not been able to pin down an exact time. so yeah, tony usually made sure to pretend he was sleeping while steve read a book next to him to lull himself back to sleep. 

tony was exhausted, to say the least. he'd been working hard for a few days and his naps throughout the day had become less and less. his stark watch, the thing he relied on to wake him silently next to steve, notified him that it needed to be charged at about eight in the evening. so tony plugged it in right when steve came walking into the lab. 

"do you want to watch a movie?" the blond asked and hugged his boyfriend from behind. 

"sure," tony said because he needed a break; he'd been at it nonstop for over 9 hours. 

the pair sat down in front of the tv and ordered some pizza for dinner. they decided to start watching back to the future because tony loved the classics and steve had to see them anyway.

the billionaire was already drowsy before their dinner arrived, but after eating, he fell asleep against steve's chest within minutes. 

the man wasn't used to seeing tony fall asleep at nine in the evening, but given that his boyfriend had been working so hard, it came as no surprise to him really. 

steve finished watching the first of the three movies and then got up to carry tony to bed. 

tony woke, but he was still sort of asleep against steve's shoulder. "m... watch," tony said. he'd been asleep for over an hour but he was so exhausted he couldn't get himself completely awake. 

"you can get it tomorrow," steve said and kissed tony's forehead before laying him down on his side of the bed. after taking off the man's shoes, socks and sweatpants, he lay down next to him and cuddled him close, falling asleep in peace. 

two in the morning came, and steve naturally woke up to tony still asleep. 

he took his book from the bedside table and started to read. 

steve nearly had a heart attack when tony rose up into a seating position, panting heavily. 

the billionaire looked around the room, his vision blurry with tears. 

"tony?" steve asked carefully.

tony turned around and felt so safe with steve next to him that he felt his tears start to fall out of nowhere, unable to do anything about it. 

the blond slowly placed his book back on the bedside table. "hey tones, come here," he said but tony didn't move and so steve palmed the back of his boyfriend's head and used his other hand to come closer to him. then he pushed the man's face into his chest, hugging him close. 

tony was sobbing softly into steve's musky shirt now, wrapping his arms around the man's torso while he was being held closely. it didn't feel like enough touch to him though. "can I..."

"yes?" steve asked so softly it made tony cry more. 

he blushed before even sounding his request out. "can I sit in your lap?"

and steve being the great person he was slipped one hand under his boyfriend's legs and left the other on his back, lifting him into his crossed lap with ease. tony in response buried his face in steve's collarbone, giving the blonde access to kissing the top of his head. 

the two sat like that for a while as tony calmed himself down from what he didn't know had upset him, he just knew it needed to get out of his system and he'd never let himself get comforted by steve before. it was wonderful.

"do you want to talk about it?" steve asked when tony's tears had stopped falling. it had surprised him how openly tony had showed emotion; he had never seen him cry in the whole year they'd known each other. he himself had cried in front of tony a handful of times, sometimes even before they'd been together. 

tony looked up at steve, wiping his face with his bare hands. "I don't know what to tell you."

steve was still holding tony like a baby, and now that the man was doing better, it felt weird to tony. he lifted himself out of the man's lap and scooched back against the head lean of the bed, thankfully leaning into steve's side when the man sat down next to him.

"I don't understand," steve said then, putting his arm around tony's chest and kissing the top of his head again. 

tony knew steve was going to get mad at him for not telling him before. "I mean I know I had a nightmare but I have no idea what it was," the man said carefully. 

"do you get those a lot?" steve asked to tony's dismay. there it was. 

"I used to get them a lot before we started dating, like every night so I... I stopped sleeping."

tony felt steve stiffen beneath him. "I mean I take naps, loads of them but I just don't sleep beyond half an hour, usually. I started that shortly before we started going out."

"why didn't you tell me?" the hurt was obvious in steve's voice and tony felt so stupid right then. steve was so compassionate, he hadn't wanted to hurt him with his silence. it's not like this was embarrassing or anything. "I thought you trusted me." 

"I do stevie but I've never told anyone about my problems before and this is so new." tony's eyes were already filling with tears again and he hated himself for it. he was being manipulative without wanting to. 

"well that's what people do in a relationship tony," steve said. he wasn't reacting to tony's fresh set of tears and tony was glad. 

"okay," tony said then. "I'll try and work on it. but I don't want you to experience this every night."

"and I don't want you to go through this alone," steve decided and tony wiped his face again. 

he couldn't say much more right then, so he turned to the side and lay there while steve turned off his bedside lamp and spooned tony from behind. 

it would take tony a few weeks to go deep into what steve needed to know but he felt a sense of relief he hadn't known before. maybe the mess he was would be less of a mess after sharing.


End file.
